In the fall of 2010, having experienced a particularly brutal summer—itself the culmination of years of letdowns, career disappointment, anxiety, an overwhelming sense of defeat and sadness, and a darkness I could not make sense of—I knocked on the door of a Nashville counselor. He and I began a long dialogue about my history of low self-esteem, my insecurities, and the legion of cruel, graceless voices to whom I had long ago ceded power. In my mind, I had always assumed they were God’s whisperings, though I could not at all understand why God would continually humiliate and taunt me in such an audible way. My counselor, Al Andrews of Porter’s Call, noticed that in choosing to listen to those voices, I was giving them power; I was choosing to “love” them. Al proposed a homework assignment. He asked me to write a song about the voices, and suggested that perhaps I was better off listening instead to the very real voices of my very real friends, the saints and angels who encourage and edify me.

“Voices”

by Eric Peters

Voices, when I listen to the voices
Every shroud of anger is sorrow in disguise
The voices, when I believe the voices
That convince me I am worthless, bent on my demise

Hear, oh hear the saints’ and angels’ voices

Everything about my weakness that is strong
Everything about the heart that could go wrong
Every hope that ever lived there but has since flown
I’m finding again, finding again

In the garden, when we lived inside the garden
Creatures bright and shining, we were, dust brought to life
In the silence, when we lean into the silence
We choose the things that hate us most, and rest upon the lies

Everything about my weakness that is strong
Everything about the heart that could go wrong
Every hope that ever lived there but has since flown
I’m finding again, finding again

We choose to love the things that hate us most

Everything about our weakness that is strong
Everything about our heart that has gone wrong
Every light that ever shone in darkened halls
Is shining again, I’m finding again

Oh, the voices
When I listen to the voices
I listen to the voices
Of the saints and angels

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2 Comments

Nancy Rach

I love your song! I have learned this past year that when I listen to other’s voices (judgements) that I am allowing them a role that only God should have in my life. In essence, if I listen to & believe them more than I listen to & believe what the Lord is telling me, I am guilty of idolatry, putting someone in His place. Thanks for this beautiful song!

Caleb Morris

Eric,
A few weeks back I spent a week doing home repairs. I had ‘Birds’ and ‘Chrome’ playing pretty much the whole time. It was great spending so much uninterrupted time with your music. The whole ‘Birds’ record really speaks to me. But now I fear your records will forever be associated in my mind with brick and mortar work! Odd how we can connect music to times, places and seasons so well. Hope to see you in Texas this year!
-Caleb